Frequently Asked Questions - Secure messaging for referrals

What are the Secure Messaging address details for Mater referrals?

If you use Medical Objects, please send to HM4101000R8, or search on 'Mater' in the Medical Objects address book and choose the address for 'Mater Brisbane Central Referrals'. Our Medical Objects ID is also embedded in our latest referral templates.

If you want to send using HealthLink, please add the EDI 'materref' to your address book entry for Mater referrals.

If you have Medical Director and are planning to send by HealthLink, please contact us so that we can set our system up with your HealthLink EDI address for your reply messages. Call the Priority GP Phone Line on 07 3163 2200 and choose the technical support option.

Where do I find the latest version of the referral templates?

Mater Referral templates can be downloaded from Mater Online via the following links:

You will be asked to enter your name and email to access the templates. This is so we can notify you when the templates are updated.

How do I upload the referral templates into my practice management system?

There are instruction sheets available in the pages where the templates are located (see links above).

Tip: Referral templates should never be opened in Microsoft Word or any other application that the Practice Management System (PMS). Opening the template outside of the PMS will result in the data merge fields failing to populate the information from within the PMS. When downloading the templates, it is best to right-click then choose 'Save target as', which will help prevent accidentally opening the template in Microsoft Word.

The referral template has likely been opened in Microsoft Word which breaks the links for patient data updates. To resolve this, remove the template from the system, then upload again as per the instructions. (See the tip in the FAQ above).

Can I send attachments or photos? How do I send an item that hasn't come across into the template?

Attachments and photos cannot be attached to the referral for electronic transmission. External correspondence or any investigation/s that doesn't come across from your PMS into the referral template will need to be faxed to Mater. The fax numbers are:

Mater Specialist Outpatient Clinics
Referral Management Centre

Fax: 07 3163 8548

Mater Mother's Antenatal Clinics

Fax: 07 3163 8053

Why haven't I received a reply message (acknowledgement receipt) when I sent my referral by secure messaging?

Please allow up to four hours from time your referral was sent before contacting us about a reply message.

If you still haven't received a reply message after that time, it is worthwhile checking with your secure messaging provider that there is no issues with messaging in general at your practice.

If you have ruled out general messaging issues at your practice, please contact us on the GP Priority Phone line: 07 3163 2200, choose the technical support option, and we will investigate further.

If you have Medical Director and are planning to send by HealthLink, please contact us so that we can set our system up with your HealthLink EDI address for your reply messages. Call the Priority GP Phone Line on 07 3163 2200 and choose the technical support option.

I have received my automated reply, but it doesn't have the patient's name in the reply - it has some words from the referral, but not the patient's name - why did this happen?

We will have received your referral intact and the Referral Management Centre will still see the patient's name in the body of the referral - this only affects the name in the reply message sent back to you.

Why this happens:

Medical Objects looks for specific keywords in your referral text to help it extract the patient's name. If it can't find the keywords, Medical Objects gets confused and will select other words in the referral as the patient name.

We have updated our latest Best Practice and Medical Director referrals to include these keywords:

Patient details (we have inserted this at the top of the patient demographics section in our templates, which helps Medical Objects find the demographics in the referral text).

Re: ("Re:" identifies to Medical Objects that it is a referral).

If you have updated to our latest referral templates and are still having this problem, please call the GP Priority Phone Line on 07 3163 2200. Select the option for template assistance, and we will investigate.

I have received my automated reply, and now I would like to know more about the status of my referral. How can I find out?

If you would like to check the status of a referral, whether your patient has an appointment, why a referral was rejected, or to discuss referral criteria you can do so.